A salon spends $10,000 on a website that attracts only a handful of visitors. A small contractor invests $5,000 in an ad campaign that no one sees.

These type of marketing mistakes happen every day to the small business owners,wasting valuable dollars that businesses just can't afford to lose!   Why???

I believe it is because there is a misconception of what marketing actually is and how to make it more effective. Often times we refer to Marketing as something completely different than what it is, marketing sounds like something the large corporations do and it sounds expensive. After all large corporations have the capital to spend a lot of money on advertising and have a whole division dedicated to marketing. As a small business owner how can we afford that? That is why we try the pervasive attitude of "We can do it ourselves" only to find ourselves in debt with very little results. Marketing is too important to a company's success to be so underutilized. Despite the myth that Marketing is "expensive" it doesn't have to be. First let's look at the various definitions of marketing:

American Marketing Association:Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

Dictionary.com: 1.the act of buying or selling in a market. 2.the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling.

Wikipedia: Marketing is the process which creates, communicates, delivers the value to the customer, and maintains the relationship with customers.[1] It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments.[1] It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves.[1]

Are you confused yet?

After speaking with many local area "Marketing" experts and listening to their frustrations of what is expected of them when a business owner seeks out their services , here is a definition that I came up with to help explain what Marketing really is.

Marketing is simply gaining visibility in the marketplace.

Simple right? Well it may sound simple, but it is not easy. Marketing is actually the on-going process of identifying who can best benefit from your product/service (other than everyone), how to communicate to them in the most effective way(other than spamming them) and how to stay top of mind so that they will refer you(other than trying to sell them another product or service). You see, it is more than just looking pretty, or showing up in a room full of strangers who are not your target market. Being visible means that you are getting noticed in the marketplace by your target market and they are being drawn to you. They want to hear more about what you have to offer almost as if you are speaking to them directly. Guess what you are, if you are marketing correctly!

Notice I did not say sales anywhere in my definition. If that is what you heard then read it again. Marketing is what attracts them to you and sales is what you do to make sure they buy. They are two completely different animals. Granted you can't be successful in one without the other, but they require two separate strategies. For purposes of this article we will focus on the Marketing piece.

One of the challenges that Business Owners face when it comes to "being more visible" is that they focus their efforts on things that by themselves don't bring in business, such as a nice business card, a fancy brochure and a "cool" website. They feel like they are doing all the right things but aren't getting anywhere. Doesn't sound very motivating does it? Society, with its big business rules, has conditioned business owners that these things are needed in order to be successful, the reality is that these alone will not make one successful, it is the strategy behind them that will.

When thinking about your business and the need to become more "visible", ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do I really know who my target market is? Think about this question, not everyone will be a good fit for your product or service. Not everyone will be an ideal client. Start thinking about who it is you want to serve and why? Use your mission not your profession to guide this. So often we let the "industry" determine who is a good client. Take another look at it and ask why do I do what I do? What is the difference I want to make? Review your last 10 clients and see if you notice anything in common.

2. Is my message clear? Look at ALL of your marketing materials, your website, brochures, business cards etc.. Anything that you would give to a prospect. Do they all have the same message? Does your message clearly define what it is you do or does it leave people guessing? Does your message speak directly to your target market, getting them to say "They are speaking to me."  When someone asks you what you do, is it a different answer for different people?

3. Am I consistent? While looking at your materials, including your website, do they all have a consistent theme. Consistency is key when staying top of mind. Is your website easy to use and portray the image you want?

4. Am I really visible? In this day in age where technology is at our fingertips, people are on their smart phones checking you out before you can even finish your introduction. Check with an expert to make sure that your website is optimized for the terms that your target market would search for, other than your company name, so that it is easy to find you. Is your website the only place you show up? Are their articles on subjects your target market are interested in that you can post on a blog? You then become visible as an expert. Find out where your target market hangs out, what they do and their commonalities and make sure that you are there,whether it is in person, you have brochures there, you are a sponsor etc... Become visible to your target market

5. Do I have 8-10 targeted strategies? So often we have only have 3 strategies-hoping, praying and begging. Maybe a fourth and fifth-networking and website. I have news for you, networking and websites are not strategies. You need to have activities to develop relationships with those you network with and strategies to drive people to your website in order for them to be effective. I encourage you to sit down and think about 8-10 strategies you can do to get in front of your target market. I suggest 8-10 because if one doesn't work out you still have 9 more to fall back on.

6. Do I have a way to track my results? Are you just winging your activities hoping that one of them will pay off? Do you try a strategy only once, not see results immediately so you throw it out? Are you basing whether something was successful or not on how you felt about it? If you want to be more effective I suggest you start tracking your results. By tracking results you are basing the effectiveness of your strategies on facts not feelings. You may be surprised at what is working.

For many of us, we are on the right track, just a few tweaks and we will see results, but I suggest seeking out an expert to help you flush it out.

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize
how close they were to success when they gave up." Thomas A. Edison

 Sincerely,

Kathy Roman
Co-Founder, Business Owners Institute, LLC.

To learn more about Marketing-What the Heck is it?